Bagbin hails NIB turnaround as book on bank’s recovery is launched

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has praised the transformation of the National Investment Bank (NIB), attributing the institution’s recent progress to improved leadership and management under its current administration.

Speaking at the launch of a book chronicling the bank’s recovery, Mr Bagbin said the turnaround of NIB demonstrates the impact of effective leadership in restoring state institutions.

He, however, expressed concern over what he described as years of mismanagement that weakened the bank under the previous administration, despite its historical contribution to Ghana’s economic development.

According to him, NIB, at its peak, played a major role in financing businesses and was instrumental in the establishment of the Agricultural Development Bank.

Mr Bagbin said governance failures contributed to the decline of the once vibrant institution, citing the bank’s inability to publish audited accounts for more than a decade up to 2024.

“National Investment Bank even gave birth to what is now the Agricultural Development Bank and yet by 2024 that same hitherto robust institution had not published a single set of audited accounts in more than a decade.

“This is one of many governance failures which this book strips naked for the patriotic Ghanaian to stare at with revulsion and pledge to eradicate from our state corporate governance,” he said.

The Speaker urged Ghanaians and public officials to take a stand against the mismanagement of state institutions and demand stronger accountability in the management of public resources.

He credited NIB’s recent gains to the leadership of its Managing Director, Chief Dr Doli-Wura Abdul-Malik Seidu Zakaria, whom he said has demonstrated the ability to transform institutions through innovative approaches.

“I have witnessed at close distance and with much admiration how he identified community challenges and turned them into businesses that created employment, increased government’s tax revenue and offered succour to distressed communities,” Mr Bagbin said.

He described the NIB experience as a reminder that state institutions can be rebuilt when led with vision, accountability and commitment.

In his own remarks, Chief Dr. Doliwura Zakaria told guests that the book was written to document a collective effort rather than to celebrate any one individual, describing it as a “learning document” meant to guide future leaders of state institutions.

He recounted a childhood lesson from his late father, Alhaji Seidu Zakaria “what is unfinished does not disappear; it waits” as a guiding principle behind his account of NIB’s recovery.

Chief Dr. Zakaria outlined what he described as the key strategies behind the bank’s rapid turnaround over an 18-month period. He said the bank moved from a profit of GHS 3.1 million in 2024 to GHS 344 million in 2025, with a further GHS 94 million recorded in the first half of 2026 a combined profit of GHS 438 million over the period.

He said customer deposits rose from GHS 6.4 billion in 2024 to GHS 12.9 billion, while total assets grew from GHS 5.8 billion to GHS 14.9 billion by June 2026.

According to the author, NIB became the first bank to complete recapitalization within four months, securing GHS 1.97 billion in total recapitalization funds. He said the bank’s negative total equity of GHS 851 million in 2024 had turned into positive equity of GHS 1.64 billion by June 2026, while its Capital Adequacy Ratio moved from negative 47 percent to a positive 48.1 percent over the same period. Non-performing loans, he added, fell from 76 percent in 2024 to 52.21 percent by mid-2026, alongside a 25 percent reduction in costs across the bank through the elimination of waste.

Despite the improved figures, Chief Dr. Zakaria cautioned that the work at NIB remains unfinished, noting that reforms are ongoing, systems are still being strengthened, and some branches are undergoing modernization.

He said sustainable institutional change is built over years, not months, and stressed that people, not buildings, technology or policy alone are what ultimately transform institutions.

He closed his remarks with a charge to leaders across sectors, describing institutional leadership as a form of stewardship rather than ownership, and expressed hope that the book would remind readers that “decline is not destiny” and that broken institutions can be rebuilt.